Patuki means pounding and is possibly a reference to the rough seas in the area.
The name is probably a Europeanised version of the original name, Pauakaiwawe.
The rocks in this area are known as the Hapuka Rocks.1
1. Olive Baldwin, Story of New Zealand’s French Pass and d’Urville Island (Plimmerton: Fields Publishing House, 1979) 126.
